Tips On How To Work From Home

Brut India

Working from home is becoming inevitable for office workers as the coronavirus pandemic spreads. Here are some tips on how to do it effectively.

Transcript

00:00The best routine is the routine that works for you.

00:10Not everyone works the same routinely.

00:13So of course if you have co-workers, if you have an employer, if you have deadlines, if

00:16you're working with outside people, you want to set up a schedule that incorporates others

00:22and those who you're reporting to, but for me, I like to get up and I like to actually

00:27get all of my analytical work out of the way.

00:30I like to go through my emails, I like to set up my day, I like to see if anything came

00:33in that was urgent or important that I have to address first.

00:36I use my afternoons, where that downtime where my energy starts to drop, and that time I

00:41use for my calls.

00:56If you have roommates or other adults at home who may also be struggling to figure out what

01:01routine works, decide who is going to work where and when, and maybe you designate a

01:07closet or a smaller room as the phone booth room or the conference room, and start to

01:14schedule out those calls so that everyone knows, okay, who's doing what, who's where.

01:21If you're working in a place and you feel like you don't have enough bandwidth, go ahead

01:25and say, I need to be on this call at this time.

01:27This call is a video call, I need more bandwidth during this time.

01:30And if you have children at home, it can be a little bit difficult because now they may

01:36see it as a snow day or as vacation time, but it's definitely not, and a lot of schools

01:43are sending work home, you have work to do, now the dog's all riled up in the day, you

01:50don't know how to maintain everyone.

01:52So a schedule is really the best way to do it.

01:57And knowing that, yes, your children are going to have that time with you.

02:00You will have lunch together.

02:02You will do a project together.

02:08So it really does depend on the person and on your workforce.

02:13You're going to need to talk to your company and see what's allowed, and then also find

02:18out what about on meetings.

02:21Now I will say, if you are doing remote meetings and they're on video, I myself will make sure

02:27that I'm fully dressed, because you never know when you're going to have to get up and

02:31walk around or change a cord or just do something.

02:36And I don't want to ever be in shorts or in sweats, but I still want to have this professional

02:42look from head to toe, because you just never know.

02:46What do you want to do with your free time?

02:50Set aside some time where you might have a virtual chat or a virtual lunch, and maybe

02:55set some time to walk outside.

02:59We're not really supposed to be going other places right now, but I can go out in my backyard

03:03and it's quite large and there's no one around.

03:05It's a great time to see about joining Slack groups and Slack channels to meet other people

03:10and have virtual coffees or cocktails or lunches.

03:14What do you need to do to communicate?

03:18You need to over-communicate, and the way that you communicate needs to be very, very

03:23specific.

03:24So one, I would highly suggest that you emphasize the overuse of words like, please, thank you

03:30and you're welcome.

03:31And it sounds like a small thing, but it makes a huge, huge difference when you don't have

03:37that context, when you don't see that other person on the other side, when everyone's

03:42a little bit stressed.

03:43So know where you're going to communicate.

03:46So for very short and fast communication, you might want something like instant messaging

03:51in Slack.

03:52But there are things that you still want to send via email or secure server.

04:01I think the key is also knowing when to stop working.

04:04In fact, remote workers have a tendency to overwork because as long as we have our connection

04:11and all, as long as we have our laptop and tools, we're just going to be working all

04:14the time.

04:15So if you can set up a designated place that once you close that laptop, once you close

04:21that door, once you push in that chair, you're done working for the day.

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